Quitting your hobbies because dolls are expensive

I used to collect Disney Animators Collection dolls and Living Dead Dolls, but I needed space to have BJD's so I sold off most of my collection of those. My favourite thing about dolls is photographing them, and since I have so many more options with BJD's it was easy to drop those other 2 hobbies, they were my filler hobby before I could afford BJD's in a way.

 

I would not say I quit my other hobbies because of BJD collecting, but it definitely has made me more "inactive" with some of my hobbies. I used to like Japanese street fashion before, but now I don't buy clothes as much. This is also because I live abroad and I don't have similar community here nor attend to events etc. I bought also certain manga volumes and merch before, but since BJD collecting it was too expensive to collect lots of things at the same time.
I like also collecting (which might be a wrong word, since I don't actively collect these doll) Pullip family dolls and Monster High dolls. I still love sewing for my Pullips and take photos of them sometimes, but I would say my other dolls are more of a decoration now. I invest more money and my freetime to BJD collecting.

 

I "collected" Monster High for a bit when the line was new, but when I wanted more BJD's that were proper BJD's, I stopped buying them. The only one I keep out and do things with my special edition "Grey" Skull Shores Frankie. She's the only one I give any special attention to.

 

I quit cosplay, buying lolita dresses and anime figures dresses because of my dolls. I feel like collecting bjd dolls is my real and most serious hobby so I gave up other things. But it's so worth it!! lol

 

I think for me, it has been the opposite. Justifying spending large amounts of money on dolls, has allowed me to be even bolder about spending money on other hobbies. I often think to myself "Oh it's cheaper then a BJD! So affordable!" So I definitely still collect Nendoroids, pins/patches, plushies, yarn, fabric and shoes. I've recently started visiting cons and festivals. I really feel like BJD collecting has allowed me to be more open to having fun in anyway I choose. Plus I love to integrate my hobbies, I take pictures of my dolls with my nendoroids, build furniture and sew for them.

 

Before starting in this hobby, I was a lot into manga, anime, movies and videogames and I used to spend all my money on a mix of those things. After saving for a year to buy my first doll, and I think also due to growing up and changing my tastes, I turned down most of that so I now only collect BJDs and buy a few selected videogames from time to time.

 

I guess it's all about priorities; which hobbies are the most productive for you, and which hobbies bring you the most satisfaction?

When it comes to me, I never really give up any one hobby for any other, and most of my hobbies are "connected," anyway (dolls, for instance, inspire me to draw/write/design clothing/etc.)...if something I enjoy is going to cost me too much money or energy at a given time, I budget for what I feel I can afford, and take breaks when necessary.

I can always come back later, if I'm still interested. If I decide not to do so when I finally can, then I probably wasn't in the first place.

 

Dolls hit me at an odd point in my hobby cycles where I had been in college for a bit and had realized that I didn't need to hang on to hobbies that only partially interested me and I developed ones that have stuck with me. I kept most of my art supplies, but during that time I developed my interest in my top two hobbies, BJDs and TTRPGs. Over a decade later my more common moneysink is Starfinder (TTRPG) and I've kept my doll collection small but enjoyable to myself, and I've also donated or disposed of the art supplies that I literally hadn't touched or didn't like using.

So I can't say that dolls made me give up other hobbies as much as things were already on the way out and BJDs found their way in and stayed.

 

No. I really have never had a hobby that was so expensive before; everything else is spare change compared to these dolls! I'm a secondhand shopper for most items (including BJDs). However, I've been involved in the hobby for 14 years, which is almost the entirety of my adult life, so perhaps if I had come into them later, the answer would be different.

 

I feel like it just depends on how you look at collecting lol one of my main hobbies is just collecting things? I have a decent anime figure collection, a handful of furbies, and some non BJD dolls. I've found myself adding to my less expensive collections but thats just because I'm spending more on getting BJD. Just because I'm focusing on a different collection doesn't mean I've given up my other ones.

 

I'm glad that buying dolls helped me quit gaming. There was a time when I spent too much time and money on games. So I sold all my accounts and used that money to buy my first BJD doll and the second, and the third and so on (omg gaming is crazy).

 

Helps as I’ve been working for over 10 years now.

 

Aye.

I used to be a huge figure collector- Transformers, Star Wars, Marvel/DC/Neca, Figma/Figuarts/Revoltech/Etc., Gundams, Busou Shinki, and any oddball thing that caught my eye. I also collected Furbies for a while, and was huge into Bionicle. Pullip dolls were the gateway drug into this hobby- I had seven of them when I bought my first BJD and never went back. I'm still a part of the biggest Transformers and Bionicle forums, and a few smaller communities, but these days I hardly buy action figures unless I find them thrifting or at good deals on Ebay. The only thing I support with some frequency is my go-to indy brand. BJDs horde all the money!

 

I used to collect limited edition box sets by a few bands, basically they cost a fortune and ended up just gathering dust so....
Sold some to invest in more dolls

 

I stopped collecting baby dolls and started on BJDs and a few others here and there such as action figures and anime type figures because they caught my eye. I've never sold a doll so I still have them all. Now I've started buying props for the BJDs.

 

I wouldn't say I've quit them because this one is too expensive. I've become as equally inactive in them as I have this one at times.

I'm currently awaiting a FID Bichun, as patiently as I can, and my other hobbies are suffering. I don't have many; fiction writing, digital art, BJDs. I'm thankful that my other hobbies don't require massive budgets; just decent equipment that works and doesn't need replacing any time soon. But, when one hobby takes over, the others fade in obscurity until it's their turn again. Once Bichun comes in and his character takes shape, I'll come back to the other hobbies. There's a cyclical method to my madness.

 

I don't necessarily "quit" a hobby. I tend to go in cycles. For example, for a few weeks or a few months I might focus on finding animation cels for my collection (another ridiculously expensive hobby), scouring auction sites, Facebook groups, etc. Then, when I feel burnt out, I might move on to keeping up with vinyl (record) releases and picking up something I've been wanting. I might sell something from one hobby if I haven't used it in a long time or don't want it anymore and need funds for my current focus. Not to say I completely ignore my other hobbies when I've moved on to something else, it's just not my main priority unless something really cool comes along that grabs my attention.

 

Collecting BJDs is the only expensive hobby I've ever had. All my other hobbies either involved making things myself (dollhouse miniatures and soft fabric dolls) or collecting things from thrift shops and garage sales (Barbies). I HAVE given up the dollhouse miniatures however, because where I'm living now, there is no space for it. I still have all my miniatures in storage, but don't have a place to display them or work on creating them. Hopefully someday I will have more space so I can enjoy ALL my hobbies.

 

I have one other expensive hobby: reptiles, and they have to come first—chameleons’ bones degenerate without proper Uv, for instance, so if I need to replace a UV bulb, that has to come before buying a new doll.

Having another expensive hobby with the dolls meant I was realistic about how much money I was okay with spending on monthly/weekly/biannual reptile expenses like substrate, and bulbs and food, and how much I wanted to be able to spend on dolls/other non-essentials, so I moderate how many animals I bring home. It also means I can’t obliterate my savings on dolls in case my aging chameleon with health issues from a negligent past owner needs vetcare. In his last year of life, which is probably 1-2 years from now, he’s probably going to cost 500-1000 in vet bills, and I need to give him that—as a human with health issues, I can imagine how much it would suck for him if he’s not getting pain meds, or tank modifications to reduce the likelihood of falling, or treatment if he breaks something, which is likely even in healthy geriatric chams because of how fragile their ribs can be.

So dolls mean less lizards and lizards mean less dolls, in the little circle of spending. It also means I don’t have more than one “high risk” rescue like him at a time—I got lucky on him and he’s stayed incredibly healthy, but if he hadn’t, and I’d had another similar animal, I wouldn’t be able to get anything for my dolls for months (or, more likely, I’d rack up my visa).

my other hobbies aren’t expensive—I can write for free on a laptop I needed for school anyway. I like music, but my headphones cost about what my resinsoul body cost and they’ll last years, and concerts aren’t happening much these days. I have some fandom related hobbies, but I have all the comics/dvds for the show already, and there’s only a couple of the action figures I want, but I like finding them “in the wild” at expo, and my last one cost less than a pair of mid-grade eyes.

I did stop collecting monster high after getting into BJDs but that was largely a factor of BJDs letting me make my own characters instead of collecting premade ones—it filled the niche better. I have 2, a Cupid and the sdcc Valentine, who I plan to keep.

 

I don't think I've ever consciously quit a hobby so much as my interest waxes and wanes over time. My interest in bjds has been picking up again more recently, which in turn as inspired me to pick up sewing again as well. If anything, I've got more hobbies now!